


Pork Chops and Possibilities

by HiFunctionSociopath



Category: Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: California, Camping, Cat backpacks, Endgame never happened, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff, Getting a Cat, Idiots in Love, Infinity War never happened, Inspired by Real Events, M/M, One Shot, Pietro never died cause I said so, Pork Chops, Road Trips, Steve Rogers's Motorcycle, also ham and bacon, oh yeah, this is obviously how you achieve a cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-05-31 11:45:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19425325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiFunctionSociopath/pseuds/HiFunctionSociopath
Summary: Steve and Bucky take a road trip and end up getting adopted by a cat.





	Pork Chops and Possibilities

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this when I should have been writing Brooklyn, Brooklyn. Procrastination is a cult, kids.
> 
> This entire Fic is based on real life events that happened to me. Besides the motorcycle and the tent camping. I had to add some fictional elements so it wouldn’t be boring. 
> 
> Enjoy!!

“Stevie, that river is green.”

“I know, Buck. The world is beautiful isn’t it?”

Bucky nodded into Steve’s back and pressed closer as Steve urged the bike around another sharp curve. The two of them were traveling in Northern California together. The quinjet had dropped them off in Crescent City and they had stayed there beneath the redwoods for a few nights. They had driven along HWY 1 and 101 along the coast and through the mountains. They had seen seals, sea lions, and elephant seals. Crescent City had held tide pools full of sea anemones, hermit crabs, snails, and starfish. They were stopping at KOAs and tent camping or just stopping when they felt like it. The bike had a small trailer that held all their camping gear. Earlier that day they had stopped at an old WWII radar station. They had laughed themselves silly at the fact that the only building there that had actually been used for its intended purpose was the outhouse. The roads were insanely thin, hilly and windy and Bucky constantly had to cling like a barnacle to Steve’s back to keep from flying off. It was nice that Stark had made the helmets with built in mics so they didn’t have to yell over the wind to talk to each other.

“You still drive like a lunatic,” Bucky griped.

“You know you love it, sweetheart,” Steve purred. The helmets made it feel like Steve was talking directly into Bucky’s ear and it caused him to shiver.

“I do but that's not the point,” Bucky grinned. “How do you feel about getting a cabin instead of pitching a tent at the next KOA?”

“Was that an innuendo you ass?” Steve laughed.

“Maybe. Answer the question.”

“Sure, guess we could try something new. Might be nice sleeping in an actual bed instead of the ground.”

“Don’t let Tony hear you say that.”

“Shaddup, Jerk.”

“Punk,” Bucky snuggled closer to Steve’s broad back and watched the mountains zip by around them.

………………

They arrived at the Mt. Larsen KOA in the late afternoon without any incidents. They checked in and the guy at the front desk cheerfully informed them that the special activities were on their flyer as well as the wifi password and key code for the bathroom.

Who puts a key code on their bathroom?

Luckily the ‘special activities’ involved a pancake breakfast the morning of the day they leave. Steve drove the bike to the cabin they were in while Bucky walked. It felt really nice to stretch his legs after so long on the bike. 

“This is nice,” Steve noted once he had opened the cabin door. The double bed and bunk bed had sheets on them. Huh.

Bucky made a noise of agreement and tossed their bags on the bottom bunk before throwing himself down on the double with as much dramatics as he could dredge up from the empty pit of his exhausted brain.

“Cuddle me,” Bucky demanded and made grabby hands at Steve.

Steve laughed and sat down next to Bucky. Bucky plopped his head in Steve’s lap and wrapped his arms around his waist.

“Only a few minutes, alright pal,” Steve said in a voice that Bucky knew meant he was smiling that stupid sappy smile down at the top of Bucky’s head. “We have to make dinner soon. I saw a grill so maybe we could get some meat to grill tonight?”

“Pork chops,” Bucky mumbled into Steve’s leg.

“We’re gonna have to go to the store for that.”

“Fine, five more minutes,” Bucky grumbled, face still pressed into Steve’s thigh.

“Five more minutes,” Steve agreed.

………………

Steve plopped four huge hunks of pork chop down on the grill and the smell of cooking meat soon filled the air. Bucky’s mouth watered from where he sat at the picnic table with his chin in his hands staring lovingly at the 240 pounds of muscle that was one Steve Rogers. 

“I love you, Stevie,” Bucky said dreamily.

Steve turned around with a brilliant smile, flipper in hand, “You only love me for my meat.”

“Innuendo?”

“Not purposely?”

“You could have phrased that differently. Meat?” Bucky said incredulously.

Steve laughed and turned back to the grill to flipped the pork chops, “Could you set the table, sweetheart?”

“‘Course, doll,” Bucky teased back.

Bucky walked back to the motorcycle trailer and opened it to dig around for their bowls and something Stark called ‘sporks.’ Bucky also grabbed two knives so they could actually cut their meat like civilized humans. Granted the knives were definitely not made for food but what could he do. Bucky brought it all back to the picnic table and set it out as neat as he could.

“Happy?” Bucky asked.

“‘Course, doll,” Steve mocked. “Bring the plates over.”

“I think you mean bowls,” Bucky sneered.

“This is what happens when you decide to be lazy and let Nat and Tony buy our camping gear,” Steve snarked back. “That’s karma, bitch.”

Bucky just laughed and handed Steve the bowls so he could put two hunks of meat into each one.

Bucky shook a can of corn at Steve, “Veggies?”

“Sure, pile ‘em on,” Steve replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “I’ve been sick of things that come out of a can since 1942.”

“Me too,” Bucky sighed as he poured half of the can into Steve’s bowl and then scrape the rest into his own. 

They ate in silence for the most part and they only had scraps left on their plates when Steve said, “Bucky, there’s a cat behind you.”

Bucky turned quickly to see a black and white cat standing about ten feet behind him. It meowed loudly and began to walk away. He made soft clicking noises and held out a piece of meat. 

“Careful, he looks feral,” Steve said in a worried tone.

“I know,” Bucky said and slowly moved forward to crouch a few feet away from the cat, meat in hand.

The cat crept forward and quickly lurched forward to snatch the meat out of Bucky’s hand. He moved back toward the fence and scarfed down the morsel.

“You’re really hungry aren’t you, buddy,” Bucky said softly to the cat and turned when he heard Steve laugh softly. “What?”

“It’s just that you used to feed strays all the time when we were kids. You used to have a bunch of cats that would follow you around and beg for food but your Ma made you stop once they started coming to your apartment and yowling outside the window at night,” Steve beamed at Bucky. 

“I remember,” Bucky grinned back and turned back to the cat who had crept forward and was in reach of Bucky’s hand. Bucky stretched out his hand for the cat to sniff and the cat pushed his head into Bucky’s hand. He stroked down the cats back gently and the cat arched into the touch.

“Can we feed him the rest?” Bucky asked.

“Sure, sweetheart,” Steve answered and slowly walked forward too with a bowl of all the scraps from their meal in his hands.

Together they fed the cat the rest of the pork chops and corn and the cat happily ate all of it.

“Yuck, pork breath,” Steve laughed and petted the cat again who merped happily.

Bucky laughed too, “That can be his name, pork breath.”

“PB.”

“Oh no, Steve, what have you done!”

“What?”

“We just un-ironically named a cat pork breath.”

“PB for short.”

“C’mere, PB,” Bucky crooned at the now christened cat who wiggled his way into Bucky’s lap and planted his ass down on his thigh.

Steve stroked his hand over PB’s head again, “Guess you’re stuck here. I’ll do the dishes.”

Bucky squinted at Steve, “At least grab my book first.”

“As you wish, your majesty,” Steve said and walked into the cabin to grab Bucky’s book.

………………

“Stevie?”

“Yeah, Buck?”

The two of them were Laing splayed out in their bed. Bucky had his arms and legs thrown over Steve and was basically laying on top of him. It was too hot for sleeping bags.

“We should ask and see if we can take PB with us,” Bucky whispered into Steve’s chest.

“Yeah? He reminds me of you. He has his scars but he’s still a manipulative attention fiend.”

“Hey!”

“What?” Steve said indignantly and gestured to Bucky who was still covering the entirety of Steve’s body with his own.

“C’mon, seriously, we should ask if we can take him with us.”

“Alright, right after we get back from our hike tomorrow.”

Bucky groaned, “Let’s just sleep please?”

Steve laughed softly and rubbed his hand over Bucky’s back. Bucky shut his eyes and quickly fell asleep.

………………

The two of them got up bright and early the next morning to prepare themselves for that days adventure. 

“Steve, look,” Bucky pointed. “PB’s back.”

The cat slunk out from behind a neighboring cabin to look at them hastily before turning away when he realized they didn’t have food for him. Bucky knelt and clicked softly until the cat turned around and came back. PB pushed his head into Bucky’s hand and purred. Steve joined Bucky on the ground and stroked his hand down PB’s back as well.

“We gotta get going, Buck,” Steve said gently.

Bucky sighed but stood up, “Let’s go then.”

Together they put their packs into the trailer behind the bike and took off down the road.

………………

The road to their hike turned out to be dirt for six miles,and by the time they reached the parking lot for the Cinder Cone Trail they were covered in dust. 

Bucky sighed in defeat, “Why did we take your bike again?”

“Because it’s more fun than one of the shield issued fuck off muscle cars,” Steve snorted.

“You’re not wrong,” Bucky sighed again. “We’d better get going if we want to finish this before all the tourists get here.”

“Bucky, we’re tourists.”

“Shaddup.”

By the time they had gotten to the base of the Cinder Cone Volcano, Bucky was drenched in sweat and breathing hard. The trail had been volcanic sand the entire way and Steve hadn’t seemed to have been affected by it at all. He had just happily plodded along and read from the self-tour guide at the numbered stops along the way. 

Bucky looked up at the trail in front of them and put on what Steve lovingly called his ‘killing face,’ “I am regretting all of my life choices up from pulling you out of that fight when you were five all the way up to now.”

Steve just laughed— the asshole —and took Bucky’s hand so he had no choice but to follow Steve up the 60 degree incline made up of more fucking pumice. Walking on that shit was like some kind of torture method Bucky was very glad Hydra had never thought of.

“I survived seventy years of torture just to put up with this,” Bucky muttered under his breath as they rounded a bend just to reveal more of the path they had to climb. “Who ever thought this was ever a good idea was and is a masochist.”

Steve gave him a meaningful look.

“Steve!”

“What?” Steve laughed, finally doubling over and putting his hands on his knees to laugh wheezily at Bucky.

“Let’s just keep going before I decide this wasn’t worth it.”

Eventually after what felt like hours, they reached the top and were able to look down into the volcano and see all the way to the snow capped peaks of Mt. Lassen in the distance. Bucky could see the look of awe on Steve’s face at the painted dunes which Bucky had to admit were pretty impressive and almost worth the climb up there. 

Steve grabbed Bucky’s hand again despite the blazing sun, “I want to go down into it.”

“I will not,” Bucky hissed. “I will wait on the edge, thank you very fucking much.”

Steve laughed that sunshine laugh of his and started walking around the rim of the volcano, pulling Bucky along with him. Bucky stopped a few times to take pictures but they otherwise soldiered on— haha— until they reached the path that dropped down inside. 

Bucky plopped down in the rocks and Steve leaned down to press his lips sweetly to Bucky’s.

“Oh stop, I’ve seen you jump out of planes. Just go and come back to tell Nat you’ve done it.”

“Alright, Buck,” Steve smiled down at him.

Bucky watched Steve walk down the steep path and get smaller and smaller as he descended. Once he reached the bottom, Steve looked no bigger than and ant from Bucky’s perspective. Steve waved both of his arms wildly like he was trying to signal a plane and Bucky grinned despite himself and waved back before Steve started the climb back up.

Which…

Which Steve, the stupid punk, had decided to try and run.

Bucky was fuming once Steve reached him, breathing heavily.

“Why?” Bucky growled.

“Why not?” Steve said simply. “Life’s for the livin,’ so live it, right?”

Bucky had to agree. 

Together they walked back down the back of the volcano and through the painted dunes and finally along the path that would take them back to Steve’s bike. 

Once they had gotten back on the bike and had driven back down the long, awful, dirt road, Steve took the two of them to a lava tube called Subway Cave. That was Bucky’s favorite part of the whole day and he had told Steve so. They even went back through it again once they had reached the other side instead of walking around on the outside, partially to avoid the almost painful heat. 

………………

By the time they had gotten ice cream and went to a vista that overlooked a huge valley and had signs showing where all the major fires had hit the area that they could see, Bucky was getting anxious to get back to the KOA and PB. 

“Steve, c’mon.”

“Hmm?”

“We gotta ask about PB,” Bucky insisted.

“We’d better hurry up then,” Steve said so the two of them got back on Steve’s bike and sped back to the KOA.

Bucky jumped off the bike and turned back to Steve who gave him a quick peck on his cheek. 

“I'll go and get dinner while you ask about PB, that okay?” Steve offered.

“Sounds good,” Bucky agreed and watched Steve leave again.

He walked into the camp store and up to the counter. One of the KOA owners greeted him. 

“Good afternoon, sir!”

“Hi,” Bucky said a little nervously. _What if the camp didn’t even know about the cat._ “I was wondering about the black and white cat that’s been wandering around.”

The owner looked surprised, “Oh him, he just wanders around. There are actually two others but he is the friendliest. He likes to sit on the steps of campers and RVs and wait for the owners to feed him.”

“Huh,” Bucky said consideringly.

“Yeah, he leaves in November when we close up and comes back in April when the people start coming back,” the owner looked at Bucky consideringly. “If you can catch him, you can take him.”

“Really!” Bucky exclaimed. 

“No one has managed it yet though,” the owner cautioned. “It seems that whenever someone starts trying to catch him, they never can and they don’t see him again.”

Bucky looked at the owner, “I’ll let you know if I manage it.”

“Good luck.”

Bucky walked back to the cabin and sat down to read and wait for Steve to get back. He even started up the grill so it would be ready right away. It was only a short while before Bucky heard the roar of a motorcycle. Bucky looked up just as Steve pulled up next to the cabin. 

Steve dismounted and walked around to the back of the bike to open op the trailer and hold up a bag of veggies and a slab of ham triumphantly, “I got more pork for our pork breath.”

Bucky laughed and got out a cutting board and a couple knives so they could begin to cut up the veggies and get them cooked before they started the ham which would cook faster. Bucky heard a meow just as he had cut the plastic open on the ham. He turned to see PB standing behind him and looking at him reproachfully. Steve turned away from flipping the grilled veggies and smiled when he saw the cat.

“I’m gonna give him the fat off the edges of the meat if that’s okay, Stevie.”

“I have no problems with that.”

Bucky quickly cut the ham into four massive pieces and sliced the fat off the edges and cut the bone out of the center. He knelt with his handful of fat and offered a small piece to PB who sniffed it before wolfing it down like he was starving. Bucky slowly fed PB the rest of his handful of fat before popping the bone marrow out of the center of the bone and giving that to the cat as well.

Steve, who had just watched all of this with that stupid smile plastered over his face _again_ , “What did the camp say about him?”

“We can have him if we can catch him,” Bucky, despite himself, smiled too.

“That shouldn’t be hard.”

“I was told it’ll be harder than it seems.”

Steve turned back to the grill before putting the ham on and turning back to Bucky suddenly, “How are we gonna take him on the bike?”

Bucky smiled mischievously, “I may or may not have ordered a backpack that a cat can sit in.”

Steve threw his head back and laughed. Bucky thought it sounded like rocks tumbling down a mountain side.

Bucky hadn’t realized he was staring— that was fine, Steve was his anyway— until Steve gestured to their camping dishes and Bucky had to hurry to bring them over so Steve could serve up the veggies and ham. They ate together and talked and when Steve left to wash dishes, PB hopped up on Bucky’s lap again and fell asleep. Steve returned and put the dishes away before coming around to sit behind Bucky and pull him against his own broad chest. The three of them dozed lightly until PB got up.

“We should let him sleep with us in the cabin tonight,” Bucky whispered.

Steve’s only response was to smile softly and scoop the cat up into his arms. To Bucky’s surprise and delight, PB clawed his way up Steve’s chest to curl around his shoulders. The three of them entered the cabin and Bucky slept as soundly as he ever had.

………………

In the morning Bucky exited the cabin with a sleeping PB across his shoulders to find a large box on their porch. Opening it revealed, yep, the cat backpack.

“Steve!” Bucky called into the cabin. “It’s here.”

Steve walked out of the cabin looking rumpled from sleep. Bucky held up the backpack and Steve looked started by its soft exterior and mesh windows. Bucky like how sturdy it felt in his hands. PB pawed at it curiously and when Bucky I zipped the opening, he stuck his head inside before softly curling his whole body on the soft cushion that made up the bottom of the bag.

“Well, I guess that’s our answer,” Steve chuckled. “Shall we have our pancakes before we leave?”

“Yes, we shall,” Bucky teased. “Let’s keep PB in the backpack and take him with us to breakfast.”

Bucky left the backpack unzipped when he and Steve went to breakfast. PB had fallen asleep again in the bottom of it and the owner Bucky had talked to the day before glanced inside the bag before grinning at Bucky.

“You did it!”

“I did. I guess he just needed the right person to come along.”

Bucky and Steve got their pancakes and bacon and sausage before sitting down to eat. Bucky fed PB bacon for his breakfast when he woke up and then they packed up and left. Bucky zipped PB into the backpack and the cat was surprisingly chill with zooming along the road on Bucky’s back. Bucky wasn’t taking any chances. He even clipped the buckle in the front for an extra precaution. The three of them continued south down the coast, tent camping at KOAs. Bucky ended up taking PB on hikes with them. Buying the cat a harness and leash. Steve laughed at that but Bucky and PB gave Steve intense looks of betrayal until Steve surrendered. PB flicked his tail in Steve’s face that night before stalking off to plant his ass on Bucky’s lap. He looked back at Steve reproachfully and Bucky laughed at the look on Steve’s face. They stopped in San Francisco and Monterey. Their final stop was an AirBnB in Salinas. Their final hike was in Pinnacles National Park. Overall, Bucky thought that it had been a pretty great vacation and he was sorely disappointed when the quinjet landed on the air field that was neighboring their AirBnB. When Steve pushed his bike into the quinjet and Bucky carried PB on board, the three of them turned to look back at the fields and mountains before sitting down for the long flight back to New York.

………………

The quinjet set down on the helipad at Avengers Tower on July 4th.

Steve’s birthday incidentally.

“Hey Capcicle, RoboCop,” Tony said loudly as they exited the quinjet. “How was California and,” he made a disgusted noise. “Camping.”

“Great!” Bucky replied cheerfully, PB merped and clawed his way out of the backpack to curl himself gracefully around Bucky’s neck. 

Tony looked taken aback as he took in Steve, who had come up to wrap his arm around Bucky’s waist, Bucky who was smirking and PB who looked severely disappointed in all of them. The cat stuck is cold nose in Bucky’s ear and huffed out a small breath.

Bucky laughed, “I know, sweetheart.” He stroke a finger down PB’s nose.

“This is… a new development,” Tony huffed. “I don’t want it in my lab.”

“Him,” Bucky huffed back. “And his name is PB so have some respect.”

“PB?”

“Short for pork breath,” Steve chuckled.

Tony did a double take, “O-kay. Pork breath, yep, alright.”

Natasha came up behind Tony and he yelped, “I think it’s cute but you’re definitely going to have to tell us all the story tonight. Happy birthday by the way.”

“Thank you,” Steve said. “We’ll tell you all about our trip later.”

“Good because everyone is here and everyone wants to hear what you’ve been up to,” Natasha smirked.

“Everyone?” Bucky said skeptically.

“ _Everyone_ ,” Natasha assured him, the smirk still plastered across her face. “Thor came, and T’ Challa and Shuri, Sam and Clint and Bruce and ребенок паук.” 

“Who?” Steve asked, confused.

“Baby spider,” Bucky translated for him. “The kid.”

Steve nodded, “That’s… great.”

Nat just flipped her hair and walked inside. Tony watched her go, scowling furiously. 

“No one ever makes such a big deal about my birthday,” Tony huffed angrily.

“Tony, it’s the 4th of July, it’s not just for Steve,” Bucky said with his own smirk. “Besides you’re annoying.”

Tony squawked and Bucky laughed and hauled ass into the tower, PB clinging to his shoulders and Steve not far behind, before Tony could do anything in response.

………………

They did tell the others about their trip and it wasn’t long until PB won all of the Avengers over. Wanda just about tripped over a table in her excitement when she saw him but luckily Pietro caught her at the last second. Clint looked at the both of them disapprovingly before he too succumbed to PB’s charm. Peter hung back, still not sure if he was allowed to join in seeing as he was the newest of the lot, but eventually he knelt down to stroke down the cat’s spine. Thor’s input was that Midgardian cats were much smaller than Asgardian ones but they were no less manipulative. Sam gave Bucky shit but even so said he was proud of the two of them. T’ Challa and Shuri admired PB’s black and white fur, saying he was just like a little panther. Bucky was pleased to note that even Tony had coaxed the cat into his lap at one point in the night, Bruce by his side smiling down at a purring PB.

Needless to say, PB did not stay out of Tony’s lab.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! 
> 
> Someday this Fic will have pictures depicting the different places Steve and Bucky went so there’s some visual reference.


End file.
